This story was submitted in response to an invitation from shonareads to unpublished Zimbabwean authors. Readers will be asked to vote for their favourite story in a Twitter poll on the shonareads Twitter account; the author of the winning story will receive a USD 100 Amazon voucher.
Author: Black Rose
About the author: l am a female aged 32, a chef by profession, l train cooking. l write a lot in my spare time mostly non fiction creative and romance.
Story title: Marble-Eyed Devil
About the story: It was inspired by real life witchcraft stories that have occurred some that l have experienced in different places which l brought together to create one fiction story.
I was awaken by the loud hissing and shrieking sound, it wasn’t familiar but l was certain l had heard it before. Everything was happening very fast, a flash of my childhood memory, l must have been four years old, l remember the incident because that year l had a blue dress for Christmas it was in 1994. We had gone to the village (kunorova guva) a ritual to bring back the spirit of a deceased loved one. A traditional healer named Maswerasei had caught a snake that almost filled up a 50kg sack. The snake only hissed in the sack adults had been allowed to see it but we had been clinging to our mothers’ backs. I remembered the hissing sound from that night when l was four. I quickly jumped out of bed gasping for air from fear, my eyes went straight to the window, l had gone to bed without closing the curtain. Zesa had done its things and l had been using the moonlight . Looking outside the window my eyes met glowing marble like objects that had a yellowish color, l focused a bit more and l could see what looked like feathers on this marble eyed creature . Taking a few steps towards the door l kept my eyes glued to the window l did not want to lose sight of this mysterious creation, l imagined it grab me by the throat. In my mind the eye contact seemed to be a way to tame it to remain calm. Moving backwards l stretched my hand for the door handle, l have slept in this room all my life there is not a chance l would miss the door handle the way l did on this particular night. As if this creature could smell my fear it started shrieking this time it was louder because l was now wide awake. I felt my legs releasing my body, the fear in me took all the strength as l dropped to the porcelain tiles that felt warm, l had just wet myself and as l fell l felt the warm splashes of my own urine. I wanted to shout for my mum and sister who were both sound asleep in the room next to mine. How could they be snoring after such terrible noise? Was l hallucinating? Every attempt to shout came out as a whisper, l felt helpless. I lost eye contact with the creature and just like l had imagined l lost control of it, it hit against the window, this time l had a clear view it was an owl. I felt relieved and disappointed at the same time. I had reacted like a child only to realise it was a helpless bird. It kept shrieking and cooing on that tree branch that was adjacent to my bedroom window. Gaining my strength and recovering from my fright l held on to the wall getting up from the mess l had made. Before l stood on my feet there was a strong shaking on the branch which the owl was. The shaking was vigorous, it seemed as if a powerful wind blew. Shrieking as it flew away, just after the owl departed there was a loud thud on the ground it sounded hard, the ground had been wet from the rain. I rushed to the window to close the curtain l had been terrified enough for the night. Sparkles caught my sight, colorful sparkles that shone from the reflection of the moonlight. For a split moment l was captivated by these colors until l paid attention to the sound coming from outside, the hissing sound that had woken me up earlier it was just not the owl outside the window there was a snake whose head was nearly the size of a new born baby and the thickness of the middle part of it body was as thick as my thigh. “Mama”, this time my voice so loud it almost deafened me. I did not need to call out twice my voice was loud that even Mukoma our gardener who had slept drunk was awaken by my shout. I stood rigid and in shock, l did not move away from the window. Mama came as quickly as she could banging open my bedroom enquiring if l was okay. Speech had left my mouth all l could do was point her in the direction of the beast l was looking at. From a distance in the dark l could see Mukoma who was coming out of his room which was neatly constructed from concrete panel, walking towards the house buttoning his shirt he shouted “kwakanaka here?” Mama immediately instructed him to turn back to his house because there was a snake herded towards him. Mukoma was determined to see the beast for himself so he walked at an angle with his bright itel phone torch lit very bright. Immediately he shouted “shato” meaning a python. I had only seen these kinds of snakes on TV and this experience was about to ruin my photographic mind that downloads all the terryfying information at night. According to my culture a python is sacred and when seen around the house it is a bad omen. Tenants that rent at my house were all awaken by the commotion and everyone who came out to witness this snake was shook right to their toes. It was difficult to get hold of the wild life snake handlers as phones kept ringing, the python now lay still, it hardly moved, one of the man was convinced it had swallowed something and from carefully examining it was shaped like a feotus. People gathered around each one telling a story of different snake experiences from their rural area or a tale that was shared by their elders. After standing around for a few minutes one man struck the snake, it made wavy movement towards a near by bush. Everyone was sleepy, people began to retire to bed one at a time. Few people were left when we heard a female voice that was yelling, at each tone the words became audible. There was great silence and everyone listened attentively to the voice that came from the direction in which the snake had gone. I was even more terrified this time. What kind of a woman is in such kinds of bushes at such odd hours of the morning. I had never witnessed what I was about to see this particular morning. A very short woman, dark in complexion who wore tartared clothing with hair locked and dirty jumped out of the bushes dragging the helpless snake by the tail shouting. As she drew closer to the crowd people stepped back. Now all neighbors had been awakened by the yelling and shouting by this woman. She claimed that people had exposed her children and harassed them and she had come for revenge. I could feel the churn in my stomach from fear l was convinced the owl and the snake were the children she spoke about and l had been the first person to see them. I was probably who she was talking about, as l processed all this my bowel movement hit the loose button and l could feel the warmth of my own waste as it was flowing down my legs. I was terrified to the core all l could do was cry, people raced to lock themselves in their houses and so did we. We tried calling the police, we got a response but the police did not have transport. A prophet from the apostolic sect was bold enough to walk up to the woman, he spoke in a different tongue while he pointed a wooden cross at her, she screamed she was burning and confessed that she had traveled from Zaka in search of fetus meat and claimed to have gotten the wrong kind because it had landed her in trouble. She was told to sit and wait for her arrest which she complied to as all her power was gone. By the time the sun rose she had crowds around her. With the use of technology some could identify her as an outcast from the village because of her practices. I never leave my curtain open ever again.
Harare Review of Books 
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